Staves of Existence
by ellf
Summary: When Ranma Saotome manages to buy a certain book, bad things start to happen. Meanwhile Gourry and Lina are investigating the Air Lord's temple. What do these have in common? Read to find out.


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Staves of Existence

By Ellf

Chapter One: Action! The Strangeness of a Book!

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Disclaimer: I own none of the series used in this humble work of fan fiction. Please read at your own risk.

"Gee thanks mister, I'll be sure to eat it all up." Ranma smiled as she was handed an extra dango stick for free from the vendor in Nerima market. It was hard to believe that anyone did not know about the curse by this point in time, but it did come in handy whenever she was looking for some cheap eats. Ranma had to look on the bright side as it looked like there would be no cure in her future at any time soon as her most recent chance at a cure was drank by Happosai at that abomination of a wedding failure.

It wasn't that she didn't want to get married, eventually. It was that she didn't want to get married then. She wanted to sort out her feelings for Akane first, and also deal with the rest of the fiancées. Ranma hadn't seen any of the other fiancées since that farce, and she had no desire to see them at the moment. With no source of free easy food, Ranma was out scamming people here in the Nerima market place.

Ranma scammed eats off of people because she had a large appetite and not nearly enough income to support it. In fact she was near broke at the moment, having less than a thousand yen on her person. She scanned the market for more unsuspecting boys to mooch food off of, and she kept a lookout for anyone that might want to start a fight.

Out of the corner of the pigtailed girl's eye, she noticed yet another shop in the market, but this one had a familiar owner. The man standing outside the shop trying to attract customers in was the same guy that sold Kuno that stupid Phoenix egg, twice! She had half a mind to go into his shop and yell at him. It just wasn't safe for things like that to be sold to people. Especially Kuno. Yeesh. Actually, Ranma thought she would go into the shop and check to see if he had anything that could help with a Jusenkyo curse. She doubted it, but it wasn't like she hadn't found things in weirder places.

The old shop owner had ducked back inside by the time Ranma entered the shop, and he greeted her with the traditional shop greeting.

"Welcome to my shop, please look around." The man was just as Ranma remembered him to be. He covered his balding head with a tied off handkerchief, dressed in dark slacks and a white long-sleeved shirt, and wore glasses that rested on his nose carefully.

The shop itself was filled with various knick-knacks, curios and other assorted items. If Ranma were to guess, she'd say at least half of it was junk. Sitting on a high shelf in a corner was the phoenix egg that Ranma prevented Kuno from buying the most recent time, despite the store owner's protests.

She could feel the store owner staring at her, like others would, and she decided that she should start up a conversation. Turning to look at the owner, she smiled at him.

"Hey, old man, do you have anything to deal with curses?"

The shopkeeper smiled back "Now that depends on the type of curse, young lady. If you want to curse your boyfriend to never cheat on you again, then I can do something like that. If you want to cause karmic backlash to come on whoever wronged you, I can get you something like that. If you want-"

"No, I meant curing curse, old man. Curing curses!"

"Ah, that depends on the curse that you're talking about. What kind of curse are you under?"

"I'm under a Jusenkyo curse, old man, and there are others like me." Ranma smiled at him.

"Jusenkyo, eh... Hmm..." The old man had a contemplative look on his face. "Never heard of it!"

"What!?!" Ranma balked.

"I'm only a magic shop owner; I can't be expected to know every curse!" The owner exclaimed.

Ranma glared at him. "How can you not know what a Jusenkyo curse is? You're in a neighborhood where there are at least three cursed people and two who show up on a regular basis!"

The old man looked honestly confused. "Oh you mean that mess over near Furinkan? I never go over there myself. I'm too busy here as people keep wandering in my shop." He scratched his chin. "It's too bad. Ah well, look around and see if anything catches your eye, missy."

Ranma glared at the shop keeper one last time before she felt a tickle at the edge of her senses. It wasn't quite her danger sense going off, but it was something else entirely. As her eyes wandered over the shop, she could almost make out an aura of power coming from the various objects, but the tickle itself stopped as her eyes fell on a simple book. The book had a red cover with a design on its front that looked like a circle with four points on it. The kanji for air, earth, water and fire were at each point. The book intrigued Ranma and she picked it up. Ranma's aura flared for a second as she touched the book, almost as if it were adjusting to something.

"Oh, so you're one of them hotshot martial artists, are you? Ah now I remember you, you're that lad who turns into a girl. The one that the phoenix imprinted on." His voice was playful.

Ignoring that in favor of the book she now held, Ranma asked, "Hey, old man, what's up with this book? It seems kinda weird to me."

"Ah, let's see that book now." The shopkeeper approached Ranma and glanced at the book in her hands. "That is something I acquired from a very good friend of mine, a dragon. Many years ago. Not one person to this day has noticed the book itself. I guess I could sell it to you, but I'll have to give you a warning about it. That book is no mere book. It is a manuscript from what is known as the Claire Bible."

"What's the Claire Bible?"

"My friend wasn't all to clear on the details, but it contains some mystical knowledge on spells and techniques. That's only a part of it. It also holds a lot of holy power." The old man's glasses glinted in the light as he adjusted them.

"So, how much?" Ranma asked. "If it's this powerful, maybe it could have a cure for the curse."

"For you, ten million yen." The old man stated simply.

"You're crazy! I'm not paying that much!" Ranma dug her elbow into the shopkeeper's skull, driving him into the ground.

"Okay, I'll lower the price to 100 yen." Ranma reached into her pocket and pulled out a 100 yen coin, tossing it to the store owner.

"Thanks, old man. I'll tell people to come here and shop from you more!" The pigtailed girl cheerily left the shop with her purchase in hand.

The old shopkeeper pushed up his glasses again. "I do hope you are able to survive what you are getting into, Ranma Saotome. If not, my Lord will not be pleased."

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Ranma flipped through the book as she headed back to the Tendo household. She was unsure of the reason she wanted the book so badly, but was certain that if she read the book, something would happen. It helped that on the first page of the book there was a reference to the Pools of Sorrow. Admittedly, the book itself was written in some old-style kanji, but that did not mean that Ranma could not read it. She was a martial artist, after all. Along the training trip, Ranma had picked up a few languages to help Genma and him to get by, and he had picked up ancient kanji to read technique scrolls. Unfortunately, ancient kanji is difficult to read, understanding it or not, due to its age and lack of use outside of old books and scrolls, thus Ranma was returning home to get her notebook out of her pack.

Ranma approached the front gate of the Tendo Household, and then immediately jumped left twenty feet, dodging what was apparently an energy blast. What a blast it was! It blew the tall gate to the Tendo grounds into splinters, and Ranma wasn't even sure if that thing was made of wood. Looking around for the source of the blast, she heard a single instance of slow applause.

"Well, when you're good, you're good, and you, my good lady, you are most definitely good!" The voice came from a man dressed in a near skin-tight red and blue outfit. The red and blue alternated in patched form, running all the way up his body, but the man's head was uncovered. The man made Ranma's senses tingle in a similar yet completely different way than the book she held in her hands at the moment, and the man's outfit reminded her of something she'd seen on a Western cartoon or something. What was the cartoon called? Spaida Man?

"Who the heck are you?" Blunt, and to the point. Ranma needed to know who it was that blasted the gate to bits.

"Ah, hold on a second." The man pulled out what looked to be an American manga and flipped through it a bit, running his finger down the page before brightening up. "Ah yes. I am the merc with the mouth, the man with the plan, the something with the... something else! Deadpool! But you, pretty lady can call me Wade." He was down on his knees next to Ranma, staring intently at her bosom before a punch knocked him into the wall across the street, embedding him about twelve inches in.

"Get off me you pervert!"

"Oh, that's right! You're a guy aren't you! Don't sound like one though. Sound more like Lina Inverse..." He pulled himself out of the wall, completely unharmed. "Ooh, do me a favor, Miss Hayashibara, do your Pigeotto voice!"

"Huh?" Ranma blinked twice at the obviously crazy person. Maybe she hit him on the head a little _too_ hard. "What do you want, anyway?"

The man, now identified as Deadpool, posed in a deep thinker's pose. "I want... a Chimichanga."

"What!?" Ranma nearly dropped the book in her hands in surprise, but she saw the man's eyes focus on her hands. "What do you really want, you freak?"

"Aww, Ranma-chan, I'm hurt. But I honestly can't remember what my orders were. Hydra Bob!"

A man dressed in a yellow and green spandex suit faded into view next to Deadpool. "My name, sir, as I've told you a thousand times before is not "Hydra Bob", but-"

"As long as you wear that outfit, your name is Hydra Bob, my minion." Deadpool said with finality.

"But you make me wear this outfit!" The man, if Ranma could call him that, in the costume that looked like bad cosplay exclaimed.

"Exactly! Now what are our orders?" Deadpool's voice turned darker as he asked his question.

"We are to retrieve the magic tome that recently fell into the hands of one Ranma Saotome, that'd be you, dear." The man turned to face Ranma, but found that she was not anywhere around them. "Now where did she get off to?"

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Ranma glanced over her shoulder as she dashed along the streets of Nerima. Hopefully she managed to lose the two who were after the book in her hands. She needed to think of how to deal with them. Ranma idly wondered why she was told to imitate a Pigeotto. She wasn't a Pokémon, damn it! That guy was crazy, and he felt wrong. Something about his ki felt off, but she decided to run away when his "minion" appeared. Demons were not something to be taken lightly, and that "Hydra Bob" screamed demon to her senses. His evil ki flared when he appeared to give "Deadpool" his orders.

Besides, fighting anything right outside the Tendo household was bound to lead to property damage that she didn't want. It would just lead to more problems for the family, and she would have to rebuild that gate already anyway. So this time the purpose of the Saotome Secret Technique was two-fold. Figure out how to beat these guys because it was obvious that a fight was coming, and she tried to lead them to a vacant lot where there was more ground to fight at.

Ranma dashed past Furinkan in her search. No need to fight there, too much chance existed that someone would get hurt, and Kuno could not handle a demon. Luckily it was one of the two Saturdays a month that school was not in session and no one was likely to spot her.

There! An abandoned lot in half-way decent condition, perfect for fighting. The lot took up a one block area, flat and unassuming. No chance for property damage existed here, and Ranma's time for planning increased if she waited here. It really was too bad that she hadn't been able to find some hot water in her search for this lot. Being male increased her confidence enough that her Moko Takabisha hit harder.

Ranma cursed the fact that she had no paper other than what was in the book, and no brush either. Wards were one way to deal with demons, and thanks to that oni incident, she was well versed in creating them. Perhaps there was something…

"Well… well, you gave us a bit of a run around, missy." The voice of that "Hydra Bob" character echoed throughout the lot. "And I was going to offer you funding for that book, anyway."

"I don't need money from a demon!" _Put on a brave face,_ Ranma thought_. He's no cat._ "Show yourself!"

"Well, Hydra Bob. It looks like she doesn't want to give you the book. Maybe she'll give it to me, the oh so loveable Deadpool." Ranma turned towards the source of this voice and saw the man standing behind her, holding a kettle of water.

"What's loveable about you!" Ranma snarled at Deadpool.

"I'm hurt. You don't want the hot water I have here?" The annoyingly frightening man shook the kettle, sloshing the water around a bit. A tuft of steam rose from its spout, and Ranma's eyes locked on the kettle. "Let me hold the book for a second, you don't want it to get wet, do you?"

She started to hand the book to Deadpool, but then her eyes narrowed and she jumped backwards, barely dodging a club strike from a weapon about twice her body length. From the crater that appeared upon the strike's collision with the ground, the club was fairly hefty. Following the club with her eyes, Ranma focused on the perpetrator of the strike. Big, nearly two stories tall, blue, snarling, wearing a tiger-striped loincloth, with a horn in the center of its forehead that sat on top of its ugly mug, this was an oni. It seemed to be a lot more dangerous than the possessor oni that Ranma had fought before, but hopefully physical blows could harm it.

Deadpool pulled himself up from underneath the crater that the club left. "We're going to have to talk about procedure at the next group meeting, Hydra Bob. You attack the enemy after they've taken the bait! Not before! And you don't attack me during it, no matter how good my healing factor is!"

Ranma rolled her eyes and mourned the loss of the kettle of water. Her aura flared around her as she prepared herself mentally for the fight ahead. She idly noted that her ki aura was brighter than usual as she focused it into her limbs and prepared for the oni to attack again. She fell into the age-old tactic of Anything Goes, goad the enemy. "What? Is that it? The big bad oni can't even beat a little girl?"

Unfortunately, that tactic only seems to work on moderately intelligent enemies, as the oni seemed unfazed by it. The monster swung its club at Ranma again, nearly sideswiping her as she hopped over it and landed on its tip at the end of the swing. Ranma ran up the club and pushed off the oni's hand for an increased momentum kick-which felt like she was kicking a steel door. Actually steel was far too soft... She'd kicked steel before and left a dent, the head didn't even move on her strike. Ranma used the head of the oni as a springboard to get into the air and landed three meters away.

Ranma looked around the abandoned lot. Surprise trickled through her as she noticed that Deadpool had disappeared. A bit of worry leaked through as well once she noticed that a crowd had formed during the initial part of her battle. What was it with people and their need to watch him fight? Didn't they know that they were in danger?

"Everybody, run! This ain't a normal fight for me!" Ranma tried to warn them as she dodged another vertical club strike. The oni had power, to be sure, but it didn't seem smart enough to fight well. It wasn't fast either. Problem was, Ranma had no idea how to damage it.

Well, if its skin was too thick to feel that high momentum kick, perhaps several hundred kicks to the same spot would work. Ranma had been waiting for someone to try this technique out on, anyway. Leaping back to dodge another slow (for her) club strike, she repeated her run up the monstrous club, but this time she continued up the creature's arm and up to its shoulder. Ranma adjusted the book in her hands so she had a better grip on it and ran up to the oni's head.

Pulling back her leg, Ranma cried out "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken Revised: Amaguriashige!" Sure to be a crowd pleaser if they didn't listen to her, Ranma lashed out at the same spot on the oni's head several hundred times in under a second. This time it seemed to have an effect on the oni as its head dipped down towards its left to try to avoid the apparent pain. Ranma shifted the book from her right arm to her left and then grabbed the oni's horn with her right hand, trying to use gravity to bring it down.

The oni fell with Ranma, causing the earth to shake as its body struck the ground. Seeing that it was dazed, Ranma backed off a bit and smirked. "Ha, it'll take a lot more than a two-story monster to take out Ranma Saotome."

She looked over what remained of the crowd, glad that it had thinned a bit, and she noticed as the crowd let out a collective gasp. Ranma turned around, but not fast enough as a sweeping strike with the club struck the girl in the side. Ranma turned with the strike and gripped on to the club as best as she could. The club carried her along with it on the follow-through of the swing, and Ranma held on for dear life as it reached its apex. Ranma twisted her body so that upon reaching the apex of the swing, she went flying straight up.

Adjusting herself in the air, Ranma once again used gravity to her advantage. As she fell she focussed her ki into her feet and aimed for the oni's head, careful to avoid the horn. "Aerial Meteor Double Kick!" she cried as her feet connected with the monster's skull. Pushing off it, she landed two meters behind the creature.

Ranma panted, trying to regain her breath. This thing just wasn't keeping any damage done from her attacks. It was almost as if they were all ineffective... unless they had a good amount of ki behind them. Even those seemed to disappear after a bit. It really was a good thing the oni was stupid... it was still looking around for her.

Ranma closed her eyes, trying to focus on her surroundings with her ki sense. She never really tried to develop this until lately, but perhaps focusing her own ki would help her now. There was the oni, huge and dark, the people in the crowd, now fewer after seeing the punishment this thing could dish out, and... the book? The book gave out a pure aura, but it wasn't ki. It was... something else, something Ranma hadn't directly sensed before. Sure, in the shop, she could feel something special about it, but now the feeling was far more clear. The book's aura seemed to pulse in sync with her own the more she focussed on it. It was almost as if she could pull the aura of the book into herself.

Yes. There it was. She could feel the warmth of the book's aura combining with her own. She let that feeling flow through her body, and then Ranma attempted to focus it. It was different, rougher and smoother than her ki. She focussed it into her hands and legs, now opening her eyes. Her aura was visible, blue with traces of white. The white burned bright around her hands and feet, and she could see the oni for what it was, now knowing how to take it down.

Two solid blows is all it took to bring the creature to its knees. A leaping kick to its chin followed by a punch to the temple. When the oni fell, it dropped its club, which dissipated into a black mist. Ranma gave the oni another kick for good measure but found himself kicking air as the beast too, turned into black mist.

"Well, well, it seems that we have failed for now, but that doesn't mean that we'll give up! We'll just run away because our plan failed right now. Give you some time to rest up and heal. Besides, I've got some new comics out that I need to read."

"Mr. Deadpool, Sir.... Wouldn't it be easier for us to kill her now?"

"No, Hydra Bob... there's a procedure for these things. We have to run away because we failed. We are supposed to be the villains, after all."

"But I still say we should kill her!"

"That is why you are the minion and I am the Merc. Sheesh, I don't think Zap Brannigan had this much trouble with his subordinates."

"Who?"

"Never mind that now. We shall leave you, Ranma, but we will _be back._"

Ranma collapsed to the ground and let out a sigh as she felt their presences leave. She really needed to look over this book. Something was really off about it.

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After Ranma had recovered some and used some hot water, he returned to his room in the Tendo household, barely acknowledging anyone on his way up to the guest room where he stayed. His mother, Nodoka Saotome stood in the room, putting away some clean clothing.

She glanced up to notice Ranma as he came in and walked over to his futon. "Good afternoon, Ranma."

Ranma nodded at his mother and pulled his pack out from where it was stored. He opened the pack and started rummaging through it with one hand, before placing the book in his other hand into the pack.

"Ranma, what are you doing?"

"Packing. Going on a training trip." Ranma sounded distracted.

"What for? Didn't you just get back from China a few weeks ago?"

"Gotta train. Gotta figure some things out. Ah... there's my tent." Ranma put the tent in his pack on top of the book and grabbed a bedroll to strap to the backpack.

"Are you going with anyone? You could take Akane-chan with you. Or perhaps that nice Ukyo girl."

"Not taking anyone with me. Gotta do this alone." Ranma stated without even looking at his mother. He grabbed a couple more materials, including a notepad and a pen, and stuffed them into the pack before closing it tight. He turned to his mother and smiled. "Besides... if all goes well with this trip, I'll be a true man amongst men, mom."

"Oh? Solving problems on your own is quite manly, son. I still think you should bring one of the girls with you though. You never know when you might need someone to satisfy your manly needs."

Ranma blinked at that. "Right. I really need to do this alone, mom. Don't need no girls following me. Could be too dangerous for them with what I'm doing."

"Well... I can't fault you for wanting to protect the girls' safety. Go on your trip, and good luck, my manly son."

"Thank you, mom." Ranma smiled a real smile at her. He really did love her, sorta. After all, a child was supposed to love their mother, right? Ranma was glad that he managed to get her approval and that he didn't have to commit seppuku. However, as long as she held that contract over his head... he would never be sure how to act.

Stepping out of the guest room, Ranma went down to go knock on Akane's door. He idly noted that Nabiki's door was open, but she appeared to be listening to music. Deciding at the last minute to not knock on his fiancée's door, Ranma turned around and started to head down towards the stairs so he could sneak out of the household without running into anyone else. So far... so good. It looked like nothing would go wrong. He was almost home fre-

"Hold it, Saotome." A female voice rang out from the room that he just passed. Ranma froze. Maybe he could pretend he didn't hear her. "I know you hear me, Ranma-baby. Come here."

Crap. He didn't have time to deal with her. Who knew when those two demons would be back? Sighing resignedly he headed towards her room's open door.

"That's far enough, Ranma. So... where are you going?" Nabiki Tendo laid belly-down on her bed wearing jeans and a brown blouse. She kicked her feet in the air playfully as she spoke with Ranma.

"On a training trip." Perhaps if he told her part of the truth, she would just let him go without trouble.

"Oh, where to, Ranma-baby? You know this is the middle of the school year." Nabiki smirked and Ranma knew she was up to something.

"Away. I don't need nobody coming with me neither." Ranma started edging towards the hallway.

"Now Ranma... you wouldn't be thinking about leaving without telling our fathers, now would you?" Nabiki took in a deep breath.

"I told my mom. No need to yell and get everyone. I'm going alone." Ranma glared at Nabiki. "And don't send anyone to find me, I can't guarantee they'll be safe."

Nabiki scoffed. "Ranma-baby, would I do that? If you need to train alone without any interruption, I can make certain that happens.... for say... Two hundred thousand yen? No? Too high? Oh well, D-"

Ranma dashed into the room and covered Nabiki's mouth. "Put it on my tab, Nabiki. You don't know where I'm going, and I ain't gonna tell you. If anyone asks, I'm on a training trip. Understand? I don't want your family hurt, and I don't want them involved with this one." Ranma let off his hand.

"Oh Ranma, you're so forward... and just for that, I'll tack on an extra fifty thousand yen. To be paid, in full when you get back... one way or another. Just... come back in one piece, Ranma-baby." Nabiki said, her voice softening at the end. Perhaps she wasn't as much of a money grubbing woman as he thought. "After all, I still need to get that money from you." Or maybe she was.

"I'll be back once I finish the trip." Ranma stated as he left the room. He headed down the stairs and out the door unhindered.

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It had taken about two hours to get to the training site and only about five minutes to get his camping gear set up. Ranma was fairly used to this by now... and now he was sitting down in front of a fire, looking over the book that he had bought.

"Just what... are you? That oni had me. I wouldn't have been able to defeat it if not for you." Ranma opened it and his old kanji book as he flipped through it. "Pools of Sorrow.... Weather Dragon.... Air Lord? This doesn't make sense...."

The pigtailed boy continued to flip through the book before coming across what was apparently a map. The map had two marks on it, one of which had the kanji for air and the other that had a kanji for "you" on it. The map itself seemed to be a display of Japan and China. The mark for Air was dotted on Hokkaido, while the second dot was on Honshu, just about where he was. Ranma turned the page, and a second map appeared, but it was unlike any other map that he had seen before. The map seemed to focus on a center island that was divided into kingdoms. It also had written on the bottom of it something about a "Ruby-eye" character.

"Ruby-eye Shabranigdu... I wonder who that is..." Ranma mused.

"I could tell you... if you give me that book, Ranma-kun." That voice... it couldn't be.... it _was _the crazy demon known as Deadpool.

"What? How did you find me? Why are you here?" Ranma jumped and got into a defensive stance.

"I will have that book... and if you won't give it to me... I'll enact my punishment on you for being associated with that abomination of a movie known as 'Dragonball Evoloution.'"

"I'll have you know that I had nothing to do with that!" Ranma yelled out. "I don't care that Goku sounded like me!"

"Oh... right then... you going to give me the book?" Deadpool cocked his head at Ranma.

Ranma shook his head. "I bought this book fair and square."

"Well, isn't this unfortunate? Looks like I get to bring out a couple of my favorite friends. Forest oni, attack!"

Ranma backed up as he heard the growling of something... and then he saw them, four of them. They weren't nearly as large as the mountain oni that attacked him earlier, but they were still taller than him. They were oddly colored, some brown, some green, and all of them snarled and drooled. They carried thick tree branches as clubs.

Ranma looked around for Deadpool, only to see that the demonic man had disappeared. He then quickly had to dodge a club swipe by doing a backflip. Ranma got ready to launch a counter attack before he heard.

"Hito Ryu-Zan Ha!" A bright blade of ki went across his vision and cut into the oni that was just about to strike him. A few more followed, carving the four oni that were about to attack him into pieces. Ranma looked up at the source of the ki to see a familiar floating figure holding a book in his left arm. "Well now, Saotome... I didn't expect to see you here."

Ranma gaped. "H-herb?"

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(Author's notes)

Was going to make this chapter a bit longer, but decided to end it here. It seems to fit well. Other chapters that are likely to be done soon: Two Halves, One Power chapter 1, Half an Age Chapter 4, and I'm starting another new fic. Comments and Criticism are always accepted.


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